Frank Pleeeeeze don’t go. I have learnt a lot from you over the years. This is also a friendship thread and I consider you a good chum! I am a wee bit over 27
Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” A A Milne
Hello everyone. Woke up late this morning but feeling almost human again so have been sorting and pottering and dusting upstairs. It's a wee bit warmer but also grey but I'm not yet ready for outdoors pottering. When I am, there's weeding to do and veggies to plant out and veggie beds to prepare and a sort out of seeds for early sowings.
My gardening style and activities are very different now from when I was at work full time and had an average semi-detached garden in Harrow. These days I have more time and far more space to grow things in, both ornamental and edible. That is not the case for many Brits who find gardening space and time shrinking. Can't expect the young and middle aged to have the same needs or interest as we do now we're 27 and more but when they do pop up asking questions our collective voice of experience is worth far more than books or badly researched TV. These boards have a huge well of experience from people gardening in different locations, climates, soils and styles - fountains of all sorts of knowledge.
I grow lots of garlic. No idea what constitutes hard or long neck as it never survived a Belgian winter. Ours is faintly purple. I store it on a rack in a well-aired, open-sided barn so it gets neither direct sun nor rain. Seems to be lasting well tho I'll need to start buying it soon as we're running out. This year's crop is growing well so far.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I will explain. In a few weeks time I will reach the big 90 very unexpected considering the life I have led. Ten when war started sixteen when it ended, Bombed whilst out on the road Machine gunned in the street twice by German planes over Darlington, the army, you just accept the fact life is short then ICI, two explosions four fires, a fall of 80 feet, (got up and walked away) plus three Gas leaks. Life expectancy was day to day and yet as a gardener you did not plan for tomorrow it was three year plans. Dad taught me rotation, double digging, hot boxes, seed sowing and soil purifying for seed sowing, he did not use chemicals, we had plenty of manure and straw plus sandy soil although when he dug the shelter in the garden there was at least four feet of loamy soil 100 years of manure and cultivation. Everything was from seed or cuttings, from an early age you would find me in the old apple trees taking out the dross and pruning for fruit. Rhubarb would be covered with a bucket and straw for the first sweet tender shoots, the Victoria plum trees banded and the william pear trees tidied up. Every week had a job which Dad knew by rote yet he was a Haulage Contractor by day with his own trucks. Mother a dress maker Tailoress and during the war an Electrician on Goosepool Canadian Bomber base, (Teesside Airport now). @, I picked up the ready humane killer and shot, Tommy said he is a natural. My Grandchildren have seen none of this, H&S finished the animal keepers off, that old garden is still there a four bedroom house with garage on it and divided into four gardens now. My Wife Joan was ill for seven years so I employed two gardeners one for the lawns and one for the heavy stuff, I potter and give the heavy gardener Tony lectures on plant names old and new, he is a willing learner. I lost her coming up to eight years ago four day after my birthday, the family are planning a big fuss as they come from abroad and the UK I will put on a good face but I feel it inside. Thanks for the kind messages we will see what the next few weeks bring, it will not be spring here in the N.E. that is for sure. Frank.
I don't think garden practice has changed that much Frank, except that these days new gardeners want quick fixes because of limited time and/or resources and also lack of knowledge. It was ever thus for many aspects of life. The trick is to help them make something work and then they get sucked in to all the rest and end up growing their own and all the swapping and sharing that involves.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself and be thrilled that your grand-children have seen none of the hardships of your generation. They have other challenges in their lives and will have other triumphs.
Enjoy what you can do in your garden and pass on knowledge to your gardener and others. Accept that things change. Above all, enjoy having the family together for your birthday. 90 is worth celebrating and you may never again see so many of them together - unless there's a big wedding coming up.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I was thinking that with the passing of my parents, 2 uncles, various family members and friends that my family was disappearing - but no! Thought again and realised that the family is growing, my children, grandchildren and also my sister and 2 brothers have children and GCs. The future takes over from the past. I hope it is a good one for them. Though I do wonder about Brexit!
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Never sorry for myself Obelixx, anything but, just sad that the Girl I spent sixty years of my life with is not here to enjoy the party. We got the Card from Her Majesty. We never thought we had hardships, it was natural, what we did at the time. I did not even know how lucky I was until one day some of my Cricket Pals discovered my Sister and I had our own bedrooms, in many of the two bedroom houses they slept nose to tail, I began to realise some had it others did not. As wartime kids we had the savvy to know the odds, when you heard the teacher calling the register and a voice comes up, "Billy was killed in the raid last night" you know just how random life is. Life was for living and that is what I tell my 10 Grandchildren and 5 Great Grandchildren, live it day to day and to the full, do your bucket list now not some date in the future, we do not know what the future holds. Before the Cancer operation the Surgeon asked if I needed counsel?? Why? if I wake up I thank you if I do not wake up I haunt you, he grinned saying yes I bet you would. Frank.
Can I simply suggest that you do indeed count yourself fortunate and that you concentrate on how lucky you are and have been and on what is instead of what has gone before and/or is no longer there.
Far too many people, including some on these boards, have real problems and hardships to overcome every day of their lives but still find peace and hope in their gardens and family. If you can't help with their gardening then just slip off quietly without all the announcements.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
A A Milne
Modern gardeners can only do what they do because they are ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My gardening style and activities are very different now from when I was at work full time and had an average semi-detached garden in Harrow. These days I have more time and far more space to grow things in, both ornamental and edible. That is not the case for many Brits who find gardening space and time shrinking. Can't expect the young and middle aged to have the same needs or interest as we do now we're 27 and more but when they do pop up asking questions our collective voice of experience is worth far more than books or badly researched TV. These boards have a huge well of experience from people gardening in different locations, climates, soils and styles - fountains of all sorts of knowledge.
I grow lots of garlic. No idea what constitutes hard or long neck as it never survived a Belgian winter. Ours is faintly purple. I store it on a rack in a well-aired, open-sided barn so it gets neither direct sun nor rain. Seems to be lasting well tho I'll need to start buying it soon as we're running out. This year's crop is growing well so far.
Dad taught me rotation, double digging, hot boxes, seed sowing and soil purifying for seed sowing, he did not use chemicals, we had plenty of manure and straw plus sandy soil although when he dug the shelter in the garden there was at least four feet of loamy soil 100 years of manure and cultivation.
Everything was from seed or cuttings, from an early age you would find me in the old apple trees taking out the dross and pruning for fruit. Rhubarb would be covered with a bucket and straw for the first sweet tender shoots, the Victoria plum trees banded and the william pear trees tidied up. Every week had a job which Dad knew by rote yet he was a Haulage Contractor by day with his own trucks. Mother a dress maker Tailoress and during the war an Electrician on Goosepool Canadian Bomber base, (Teesside Airport now).
@, I picked up the ready humane killer and shot, Tommy said he is a natural.
My Grandchildren have seen none of this, H&S finished the animal keepers off, that old garden is still there a four bedroom house with garage on it and divided into four gardens now.
My Wife Joan was ill for seven years so I employed two gardeners one for the lawns and one for the heavy stuff, I potter and give the heavy gardener Tony lectures on plant names old and new, he is a willing learner.
I lost her coming up to eight years ago four day after my birthday, the family are planning a big fuss as they come from abroad and the UK I will put on a good face but I feel it inside.
Thanks for the kind messages we will see what the next few weeks bring, it will not be spring here in the N.E. that is for sure.
Frank.
Frank.
Frank.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself and be thrilled that your grand-children have seen none of the hardships of your generation. They have other challenges in their lives and will have other triumphs.
Enjoy what you can do in your garden and pass on knowledge to your gardener and others. Accept that things change. Above all, enjoy having the family together for your birthday. 90 is worth celebrating and you may never again see so many of them together - unless there's a big wedding coming up.
We never thought we had hardships, it was natural, what we did at the time. I did not even know how lucky I was until one day some of my Cricket Pals discovered my Sister and I had our own bedrooms, in many of the two bedroom houses they slept nose to tail, I began to realise some had it others did not.
As wartime kids we had the savvy to know the odds, when you heard the teacher calling the register and a voice comes up, "Billy was killed in the raid last night" you know just how random life is.
Life was for living and that is what I tell my 10 Grandchildren and 5 Great Grandchildren, live it day to day and to the full, do your bucket list now not some date in the future, we do not know what the future holds.
Before the Cancer operation the Surgeon asked if I needed counsel?? Why? if I wake up I thank you if I do not wake up I haunt you, he grinned saying yes I bet you would.
Frank.
Far too many people, including some on these boards, have real problems and hardships to overcome every day of their lives but still find peace and hope in their gardens and family. If you can't help with their gardening then just slip off quietly without all the announcements.